The Night Life
by Echoing Fantasy
Summary: AU. DJ!Tsuna. Reborn goes to hunt down a target and instead ends up meeting Boss, who does not like him. Oneshot. R27. Prompt by celapin on tumblr.


_The Night Life_

The first time they meet is when Reborn is hunting a target. Predator and prey had been dancing around each other for the past three nights; the prey was smart enough to realize that he was being watched by men who would have preferred if he disappeared quietly, and took the appropriate steps in an attempt to escape. Unfortunately, he didn't factor in the best hitman in the underworld coming after him.

The place Reborn tracks his target to is an ordinary-looking little club on the corner. __The Underground __blazes in neon orange above the door, and two scary-looking bouncers glare down at anyone that looks moderately suspicious. They ask for identification at the door, a routine question, and Reborn easily produces his with a flourish of his hand.

The bouncers examine it, which tells Reborn they're __actual __bouncers, not big burly men that just glance at the IDs and let everyone inside, be they legal or not. They nod him through, and Reborn slips inside like a snake through shadows. The first hallway leads him down a spiral staircase, the sound of music gradually getting louder the further down he goes. It's a sort of smooth jazz mixed with synthetic music; overall its not as ear-gratingly bad as some of that techno shit the younger generation listens to, but its nothing that would make him weep tears of bliss either.

Soon enough he's ghosting into the next hall, and into the main room, where women and men are lingering around, grinding together on the dance floor, and drinking together at the bar_. _His target has taken advantage of the large crowd and vanished, but that's not going to be a problem. The name of the club and the way the people at the bar and outside hold themselves tells him that this is more than a simple club - this crowd caters to the mafia, as well. Which means he can question the owner and see if maybe he can't sniff out some more information about his target.

He approaches the bar, where a silver-haired man is wiping glasses and handing out orders. His hands are long and spindly, graceful like a dancer's limbs. He's gorgeous under the lights, and evidently the women (and men) think so too. Reborn waits until the bartender turns to him, brow raised. "I'm looking for the owner of the club. Can you point me in his direction?"

"Business or pleasure?" The bartender asks, words rolling off his tongue in a smooth tenor.

Reborn bares his teeth in a savage grin. "Business."

The bartender nods, and then points. "He's right there, actually. If you can afford to wait five minutes, he'll be right with you."

Reborn frowns and follows the pointing finger... to the DJ at the front of the club. Tucked away behind turntables and sound systems and large earphones that look almost ridiculous on his childishly small body. _**_**That's**_**___ the club owner? __

He's swaying as he pumps out beat after beat, fingers skimming boards and levers like the master captain at the helm of his ship, constantly tuning things to make them better, faster, __stronger. __Reborn watches as the boy sways to his own beat, movements slow and elegant, eyes closed as he lets the beauty of his creations consume the crowds.

Reborn isn't aware of just how focused his watching has become until the song ends, and he's coming back to the owner taking those headphones off and putting them down, stepping down off the stage and strolling over to where Reborn sits, apparently drawn by some unseen signal from the bartender.

Up close, the boy is rather appealing to the eye. Small, yes. Built lean, with fluffy brown locks and bright brown eyes. The wet pink lips and flush across his face top off the picture of pure angelic innocence, but there's an air of authority around him that takes over the picture, and suddenly Reborn is staring at a __man, __not a boy, who might very well rival him in killing intent. "Gokudera, what's a hitman doing in my nightclub?"

The bartender doesn't even flinch, although those around him certainly do. "Said he wanted to talk to you, Boss. He's not here for you, though."

"Then who?" Those brown eyes look orange in the right light, Reborn finds, as 'Boss' shifts looks between his bartender and the hitman in front of him.

Gokudera shrugs. "Followed Terry in here. I'm assuming he's here for him."

The gaze switches to him. Scans him up and down like Reborn is __beneath __him. Something like a shiver runs down the hitman's spine. His earlier assessment changes - this man is __more __than a match for him.

"Which __famiglia __do you belong to?" Boss barks, nothing in his stance of voice suggesting weakness. It's like facing down an enemy Boss that's not actually an enemy, but not an ally either.

"No __famiglia___. _But I serve the Vongola." There, let him chew on that.

All his words get him, however, is a sneer. "And you are after Terry __why?___"_

Reborn shrugs. "All I know is the big boys up top want him to vanish. And what they want, I want. So, if you don't mind-"

"But I **_**do **_**mind." Now the man is baring __his __teeth, and Reborn actually takes a step back as killing intent swamps him. But its tinged with something else, something extra that gives it an extra bite of strength. "Terry Fletcher is __my __man, and I will not have you touching him so long as I live."

Reborn tips his hat down, secretly impressed and slightly aroused in one. Nobody's ever challenged him like this before. "Well then, we've got a problem."

"No," Boss grins, and Reborn understands abruptly the extra bite in his intent; it is a desire to protect, to shelter and harbor those who come to him. It is the Will of a Boss, and Reborn has just earned himself its attention. "_You've_ got a problem."

Reborn takes another step back, and reaches for his gun. He doesn't get the chance to use it though, before the man is __right there, __and with a punch that's having him see stars, breaking his nose and making blood gush. He staggers back, and a hand grabs his wrist, twisting it so it snaps, and the gun drops. He kicks that away, and then there's a hand around his throat, picking him __up off the ground ,__and they're moving. Reborn's still blinking away stars, and by the time they're all gone he's getting thrown to the floor in a back alley, his back scraping the hard brick wall.

Boss stands over him, glowering. His eyes are orange and __glowing.__"Don't come back unless you've got a death wish, hitman. Consider this my one and only warning."

"Thought..." he coughs, then tries again, "Thought you were gonna kill me?"

The man rolls his eyes. "I don't kill unless I absolutely have to. I'm called 'The Boss of Mercy' for a reason." Boss goes back inside, and shuts the door behind him.

__The Boss of Mercy.__The name sticks with Reborn, ringing through his head like a drum as his heart comes to a stop. He _knows _that nickname. It's the name of Nono's secret heir, who ran away when he was twelve, done with the mafia, and swore to never come back. It's the name of a boy that was kind and sweet and loved everyone, and was loved back by the entirety of the mafia world.

Nobody had ever found him, but then again, nobody ever thought to look at the nightclubs. The kid - Tsuna - probably burrowed down in one, maybe even this one, and took on a new identity. He had a new life, one where music was all he cared about, and he made money from drawing crowds instead of stealing or threatening.

It's a life that's so completely different from the one he was raised in, that all Reborn can do is laugh. He sits there and laughs, realizing that he just faced one of the most powerful people in the world and came out unscathed. Because even back when he was a kid, Tsuna didn't kill unless he had to. Every record in the Vongola attests to that.

He might also, he admits to himself privately, be a little bit in love with the DJ. Just a little. Enough to go out for coffee sometime, if he catches the man outside his club.

Assuming of course, he can explain to Nono about why he can't kill Terry Fletcher first.

* * *

><p><span>Author's Notes<span>

**Prompt: **Reborn meets dj!Tsuna. R27.

Prompt given by celapin over on Tumblr; I asked for some nice R27 to fill up my lack of October R27-ness. I'm transferring this over to FF for fairness to those of you who _don't _have tumblrs.


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